The business, run by him and his three brothers, covers all of Pennsylvania, particularly the midstate, but also has spots in Ohio, New York, Maryland and New Jersey.

"Through some proprietary and innovative financing solutions, we are able to do systems without requiring any capital from the customer," he wrote me.

I talked with his brother, Tim, the CEO, a few days later to shed some light on the subject. Paradise has a few financing options. The most popular is one the company has piloted, where the only security to pay for the system is the system itself.

Then, after a dark period in the business in 2008, Marcus suggested the brothers refocus on solar power.

It seems he could see the light.

A market report from Transparency Market Research projects the global green energy market — that includes solar, wind, hydropower, biofuels and geothermal — will be worth $831.99 billion by 2019. This growth is estimated to come at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3 percent over the next five years, according to a news release from Transparency Market Research.

The predicted big winner will be solar, which is estimated to have a compound annual growth rate of 14.6 percent. (The report starts with last year and goes through 2019.)

"This growth is mainly spurred by a fall in prices, which has increased consumer interest in solar energy," the release states.

Hydropower had been the largest green energy segment in 2012. But much of that was because of pre-existing projects. As we noted a few weeks ago, hydro's business has sunk because of regulation, upfront cost issues and competition from natural gas.